{"id":417427,"date":"2026-04-25T20:31:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417427\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T20:31:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:31:21","slug":"monster-storms-on-jupiter-unleash-lightning-beyond-anything-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417427\/","title":{"rendered":"Monster Storms on Jupiter Unleash Lightning Beyond Anything on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lightning<\/a>Scientists analyzing data from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft have uncovered evidence that lightning on Jupiter can be vastly more powerful than on Earth, offering new clues about the planet\u2019s extreme storms (Artist\u2019s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.comNew observations of Jupiter\u2019s lightning reveal unexpectedly complex and powerful storms.<\/p>\n

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is home to massive, long-lived storms, some lasting for centuries. A new study from scientists at the University of California, Berkeley<\/a> reports that these storms can produce extremely powerful lightning. Some flashes may be up to 100 times stronger than lightning on Earth \u2014 and possibly even more intense.<\/p>\n

The findings are based on data from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, which has orbited Jupiter since 2016. Juno studies the planet\u2019s atmosphere using a microwave radiometer that detects radio signals produced by lightning, similar to the interference lightning creates on Earth. Microwaves sit at the high-frequency end of the radio spectrum.<\/p>\n

Why Study Lightning Beyond Earth?<\/p>\n

Examining storms on other planets helps researchers better understand weather on Earth, which still holds many unknowns. Lead author Michael Wong, a planetary scientist at UC Berkeley\u2019s Space Sciences Laboratory, highlighted this point. His study was published in the journal AGU Advances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much we don\u2019t know about lightning on Earth,\u201d he said, pointing out that scientists have identified several new types of \u201ctransient luminous events\u201d linked to thunderstorms over the past decade. These TLEs \u2014 millisecond electrical phenomena in the troposphere above big storms \u2014 include sprites, jets, halos and a phenomenon dubbed ELVEs.<\/p>\n

On Jupiter, lightning offers clues about convection, the process that moves heat through the atmosphere. \u201cConvection operates a little bit differently on Earth and Jupiter because Jupiter has a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, so moist air is heavier and harder to bring upward,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n

On Earth, air is mostly nitrogen, which is heavier than water. This makes moist air more buoyant and easier to lift. On Jupiter, moist air is heavier than the surrounding atmosphere, so storms need far more energy to rise. When they reach higher altitudes, they release that energy more violently, producing strong winds and intense cloud-to-cloud lightning.<\/p>\n

\"Juno\u2019s<\/a>NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft passed north-to-south (yellow track) over Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere on 17 August 2022, detecting a cluster of radio pulses from lightning (cyan symbols marking instrument pointing for each pulse). Background map from the Hubble Space Telescope identified the lightning source as an isolated \u201cstealth superstorm.\u201d Credit: Wong et al. (2026, AGU Advances; HST and Juno MWR).<\/p>\n

Nearly every spacecraft that has flown past Jupiter has observed lightning, largely because flashes stand out clearly on the planet\u2019s dark side. Earlier missions detected only the brightest flashes, leading to the idea that Jupiter\u2019s lightning was far more powerful than Earth\u2019s.<\/p>\n

That view changed when Juno\u2019s highly sensitive star-tracking camera identified many weaker flashes similar to those on Earth. Observations on the night side can be misleading, however, since thick clouds may hide some of the light and make flashes appear weaker than they are, Wong explained.<\/p>\n

Juno\u2019s microwave radiometer offers a more reliable measurement because its signals can pass through clouds. Although the instrument was not designed specifically for lightning studies, it can detect microwave emissions from nearby storms.<\/p>\n

A major challenge is that multiple storms often occur at the same time across Jupiter\u2019s wide atmospheric bands. This makes it difficult to match a lightning signal to a specific storm. Without knowing the exact source, scientists cannot accurately calculate the strength of each flash. Wong compared this to hearing popping sounds at a Chinese New Year\u2019s parade without knowing whether they come from nearby popcorn or distant firecrackers.<\/p>\n

Stealth superstorms<\/p>\n

Fortunately, in 2021 and 2022, storm activity in Jupiter\u2019s North Equatorial Belt temporarily decreased. This allowed Wong and his team to isolate individual storms and track them more precisely using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, Juno\u2019s camera, and amateur astronomers. He called these events \u201cstealth\u201d superstorms.<\/p>\n

These storms lasted for months and reshaped surrounding cloud patterns, much like larger superstorms. However, their cloud tops did not rise as high.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we had a precise location, we were able to just say, \u2018OK, we know where it is. We\u2019re directly measuring the power,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During this period, Juno made 12 passes over isolated storms and came close enough in four cases to detect microwave signals from lightning. The spacecraft recorded an average of three flashes per second. In one pass, it detected 206 separate pulses. Out of 613 total pulses, Wong estimated that lightning strength ranged from similar to Earth\u2019s to more than 100 times stronger.<\/p>\n

He noted some uncertainty in these comparisons because the measurements were taken at different radio wavelengths. One study suggests Jupiter\u2019s lightning could be up to a million times more powerful than lightning on Earth.<\/p>\n

Understanding Lightning Energy<\/p>\n

Converting microwave signals into total lightning energy is complex, said co-author Ivana Kolma\u0161ov\u00e1, a space physicist at Charles University in Prague, Czechia, and a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Lightning produces energy in many forms, including radio, light, heat, sound, and chemical reactions.<\/p>\n

On Earth, a single lightning bolt releases about 1 gigaJoule (1 billion joules), enough to power 200 average homes for an hour. Wong estimates that a lightning bolt on Jupiter could release between 500 and as much as 10,000 times more energy.<\/p>\n

\"Lightning<\/a>NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft flew from north to south over Jupiter on August 17, 2022, where it detected a series of lightning-generated radio pulses. Using a background map from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists traced these signals to a single, isolated \u201cstealth superstorm\u201d in Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere. Inset shows a previous stealth superstorm plume (12 January 2022; 3x greater magnification) from JunoCam data. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson (JunoCam), Wong et al. (2026, AGU Advances; HST and Juno MWR).<\/p>\n

The process behind Jupiter\u2019s lightning is likely similar to Earth\u2019s. Rising water vapor condenses into droplets and ice crystals that become electrically charged, creating large voltage differences. On Earth, this often leads to hail. On Jupiter, the ice particles include both water and ammonia. One idea is that they combine to form \u201cmushballs\u201d<\/a> that fall like slushy hail.<\/p>\n

Ongoing Mysteries<\/p>\n

Even with these findings, many questions remain. Stronger lightning suggests higher voltages, but the exact processes on Jupiter are still unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where the details start to get exciting, where you can ask, \u2018Could the key difference be hydrogen versus nitrogen atmospheres, or could it be that the storms are taller on Jupiter and so there\u2019s greater distances involved?\u2019\u201d he said. Jupiter\u2019s storms are more than 100 kilometers tall, compared to 10 kilometers on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr could it be that greater energy is available because with moist convection on Jupiter, you have a bigger buildup of heat needed before you can generate the storm to create lightning?\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s an active area of research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cRadio Pulse Power Distribution of Lightning in Jupiter\u2019s 2021\u20132022 Stealth Superstorms\u201d by Michael H. Wong, Ivana Kolma\u0161ov\u00e1, Fabiano A. Oyafuso, Masafumi Imai, Shinji Mizumoto, Steven M. Levin, Ramanakumar G. Sankar, Amy A. Simon, Shawn Brueshaber, Glenn S. Orton, Sushil K. Atreya, Cheng Li and Scott J. Bolton, 20 March 2026, AGU Advances.
DOI: 10.1029\/2025AV002083<\/a><\/p>\n

The research was supported by NASA (80NSSC19K1265, 80NSSC25K0362).<\/p>\n

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